"Run by a gun zealot who's too blinded by the NRA"
- Sam Penney of RaisingKaine.com

Monday, December 20, 2004

Our Next President?

The event I attended at EPA was the signing of non attainment designation's for PM 2.5 by former Utah governor and current EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt who was recently nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Its long been rumored that Mr. Leavitt has higher political aspirations and would very much like to run for President. HHS, with a budget of over $50 billion a year and oversight of medicare and medicad, is a great place to begin that journey. Of course, all the medical research grants he can now shower on Iowa and New Hampshire don't hurt either.

I ended up attending two events with Mr. Leavitt and at both I was very impressed not only with his handle of complex facts, but with his ability to work the room. As an early predictor of Howard Dean's success in running (I predicted he would run, and that he would run well, as early as 1996. In 2002, I seemed to be the only person in Washington, D.C. who knew who Howard Dean was) I'm going to go out on a limb here (in a much more widespread and public fashion) and anoint Michael Leavitt my early front runner for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination.

But back to the photoblogging. Glenn Reynolds likes to talk about how important a small camera that you can carry around with you is. I entirely agree. Not only does the Kodak fit easily in my jacket or pants pocket, but in addition to taking pictures, it also shoots movies.

These guys, who were the top staffers working on the PM2.5 attainment designations, both wore Jerry Garcia ties to this event. It pretty much tells you all you need to know about EPA's politics.